A tip for the Quilters and Crafters...
How to mark up your quilt top with the least amount of aggravation
Quilters who have mastered this tool can just skip this post. This is for the rest of us!
I discovered heat erasable fabric markers back in COVID lockdown when I was searching for the chalk powder for my heart-shaped tailor’s markers online… as that was the only way I’d be able to get anything. I saw these pens that looked like the old original BIC pens and thought, “Why not?”
Before this I used pencil (gasp!) for light fabrics and chalk markers for darks. If I was going a large quilt on my rolling frame, I would wedge in under the quilt, between the rollers, a piece of plexiglass so I would have a rigid surface. Still, this took a great deal of time and I had to be careful with the chalk that I wouldn’t accidentally rub it off.
My first mistake with these pens was using them AFTER I had assembled the quilt sandwich (top, batting, backing). I really thought I had wasted my money, especially with the white pen whose strokes and lines didn’t show up immediately like the red, black and blue markers. The next time I used them, I marked up on a wood surface (table) with just the quilt top layer. Not too bad… but the grain of the wood made it a little iffy sometimes—the pen would “jump” giving me gaps or blots. But I persisted because getting the hand quilting pattern on the top before getting it on the hoop or frame was a huge timesaver.
Now I mark on my cutting mat. A nice big (36”x450”) smooth surface. Happy quilting!
(This post is dedicated to my dear friend, colleague and fellow quilter, Kathy M. to whom I demonstrated how to use and ERASE heat erasable pens yesterday before she got on a plane to return to the Pacific NW. See you in September, Kathy!)